Playing-ball.



N0! 598,511' Patented Apr. 29, |902.

E. KEMPSHALL.

PLAYING BLL.

- (Applicalion filed Mar. 28, 1902.1

(No Mpdgl.)

l zar l!) 55 ey, Y

UNITED STATES PATENT ELEAZER KEMPsHALL, OE BOsToN, MAssAClills'E'r'rs,` AssieNOR rro 'run KEMPSHALL MANUFACTURING COMPANY, A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

PLAYING-BALL.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No."6`98,5`17, `"dated April 29, 190,2.`

original application filed March l5, 1902,- serisl No. 98,321. Divided and uns application inea Mami ze, 1902. sensi Y No. 100,429. (No modelo ton, in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Playing-Balls, of which 'the following isa specification.

This invention relates to solid guttapercl1a= balls for use in golf and other games, such as described in my pending application, Serial` No. 98,321, led March l5, 1902, of which this application is a division.` Balls made of giltta-percha usually lose their shape when exposed to the sun-as, for instance, during a game-and the principalpurpose of my in vention is to overcome this objection. I apprehend that the softening caused by the heat relieves the molecular strains throughout the material and that it hence assumes a shape in which'the particles will suffer less strain. As gutta-percha lpossesses to a phenomenal degree the powei` of rebounding or. dying when struck a hard blow by a club, it is of especial Value for golf-balls, and hence it is highly desirable tominilnize or elinlinate the liability of the ball to becolne inisshapen by the softening.

Referring to the drawings forming part of this specification, Figure I is a cylindrical. bar of commercial gLltta-percha. Fig. 2 is a view of a length cut from the end of the bar and sufficient to form a golfball. Fig. 3 shows one method of rendering the Fig. 2 article soft by means of heat, and Fig. 4 shows the form assumed thereby when softened. Fig. 5shows the `next step inthe process of manufacture. Fig.` 6 shows the article pro` duced by the Fig. 5 process as being reheated, and Fig. 7" a form it may assume when s0i`- tened. Fig. 8 shows the final stage in producing a ball; and Fig. 9 is aview, partially in section, of the completed ball.

Similar characters of reference designate like parts. in the figures.

From the usual cylindrical bar A of guttapercha as it is supplied in commerce I cut ed a cake B, whichlnay be heated in any suitable,wayas, for instance, by putti-ng it into hot water C, Fig. 3 -thus rendering the same soft or plastic and lnoldable, the `heat having" the effect of increasing the diameter and reducing thelength, as at D, Fig. L While the. gotta-percha is in the heated and softy condition, as D, I compress it into spherical form by means 'of suitable dies E and F, Fig. 5, which Work in a cylindrical bracket G. The ball is held under compression in the dies until it cools and hardens.

.Theball produced by the steps `aboveenumerated maybe used for the gameof golf, but is liable to become misshapen when exposed to the heat of the sun; and my invention consists principally in reheatijng and recompressing said ball at leastonce; and this may be done if it be again thrown into hot water, as at L, Fig. 6, whereby the ball is rehea'ted and resoftened and tends to a certain elrtentto resume the Fig. i form, as will be seen at Fig. j

7,01', iu other words, tends to elongate. -It

will be noted parenthetically that Fig. 7 represents properly the distortion of the usual` gutta-percha ball of commerce when heated bythe sun or-otherwise. the heatedand soft condition shown at Fig. 7

it isput into dies, as at N and O, Fig. 8, which `are brought together with great force, so as to put `the ball under compression, and the and hardens, the finished ball being illustratedV at l?, Figs. 8 and 9, and preferably being provided with brambles Q, bynleans oi" pits formed in the dies and in the mold.`

It is found that the ball is not liable tobef come misshape'n whenlheated, thus rendering it much more valuable for. the gameof golf than the usual soft gutta-percha ball.A It is also'found that it possesses the qualityof being inuch more reliable in action than the usual solid` ball. l apprehend that the reheating of the ball yafter being once compressed relieves substan While the b all isili` compression is maintained until the ball cools loe erratic inaction.

and compressions have the effect-of elinlinat- Having described my invention, I c1aim ing air-spaces, and thus of rendering the ball A'playing-ball consisting of a solid sphere :o very compact and hence better adapted for of compressed gutta-percha Whose internal therequirements ofthe game, particularly strains have been substantially eliminated. since the presence of air-spaces tends to dis- ELEAZFR KEMPSHALL. place its center of gravity from the central Witnesses: l point of the ball, and thus renders the latter Y B. C. STICKNEY,

JOHN O. SEIFERT. 

